Earned it.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Gift horse.

I ask for impossible things for gifts from those who love me. I ask for toilet seats down, kitchen faucets replaced, and clutter annihilated. I also ask for -- guidance in WoW, because I do so happen to know a few 'leet' players, in game and out.

Now, one of my promised holiday gifts is some guidance with Zeptepi's Shadow Priest-iness. I briefly considered going Holy/Disc with her recently, but seriously, can't quit you shadow spec. Its visual appeal is simply too gorgeous: so what if I did like, oh, 4.5K in a dungeon a few weeks ago? She looked damned good doing it.

But, dear friends, you know me by now, and I am not satisfied with being carried, at least not too much. I do like to pay my fair share of the tab and leave a good tip, and having a 'vanity specialization,' which is what I now dub my Shadow Spec, is vain and silly. Hence, the request for some help and advice on this very complicated and fascinating class.

Zep cuts through the bull with Elder Tauros. She's a Capricorn herself.

Well, help is not available in real life right now, and that is just fine. So, to the INTERNET! (Yes, I have been without Internet for five days now, and am still camped at the local Starbucks, eyelids twitching from the caffeine, and a bladder full of Verona drip.)

This is a wonderful little guide, and when I get a chance to write my post on a real life thing, (must do from home computer--this "little laptop that could" just can't handle all the awesomeness), I will show you why I think it's great.

There is a subtext, though, that I couldn't miss:

Difficult to perfectShadow priests use a number of damage-over-time spells, and managing them all can be exceptionally difficult for a beginning player. The more you practice, the better you'll get, though only a small, select handful will truly achieve shadow priesting greatness.

I too am a struggling shadow priest. I sometimes do really well though most times I do not. I find my performance greatly depends on if I am able to keep my shadow orb driven buff up. This is the linchpin of shadow dps as it buffs our dots and nobody really talks about it.

You activate this buff by putting shadow word: pain on your victim and then mind flaying it until you get a shadow orb (a shadowy sphere that orbits your character) - this may take a couple of ticks of mind flay or it may take a couple of casts of mind flay. This is the most aggravating part of shadow dps. At that point you cast mindblast to get a buff that scales up all shadow spells you cast for the next 15 seconds. This buff is critical to get good dps. Dots you cast while this buff is up retain their full strength till they run out even if the buff finishes before they're done (unless you overwrite them with a non buffed version).

Once this buff is up, apply Vampiric Touch, Devouring Plague and continue to Mind Flay. Mind Flay will refresh your Shadow Word: Pain automatically so you only need to keep an eye out for shadow orbs - ideally you want to pop mind blast when you have three as they greatly buff mind blast damage. Failing that, try to keep that 15 second buff up when you recast Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague to ensure your dots stay buffed. You can ensure the buff stays up by mind blasting with at least one orb up.

For your reforge you want to go all out on haste.

For low health single mobs, you want to Mind Spike, Mind Spike, Mind Spike and Mind Blast. This will drain your mana fast so use judiciously.

For AOE packs that have a good bit of health, you want to SW:P one of them, Mind Flay till you get an orb, Mind Blast to get the buff and then Mind Sear on your tank (you can target friendlies with this spell) to rock the AOE meters. :)

If you start running low on mana, if you're specced into it, a shadow word: death will give you a good bit of mana back, even if it doesn't kill your target. Wings as Aricelle pointed out also give you a good bit of mana.